REACH 2026: Realizing Empowerment by Achieving Challenging Heights

Welcome to another edition of Talk City, Greensboro, produced by GTN, featuring interviews and events happening around town. It's an easy way to stay in to know while you're on the go. Subscribe to Talk City on iTunes, Pandora, or SoundCloud, so you can keep up with what is going on with Greensboro City Government and beyond your host today, Rodney Dawson, and thank you for tuning us in one more time and downloading the podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Pandora, and YouTube. Today is no different than any other day. Always have fantastic guests. And so we sought out someone special that could fit that fantastic mode. They could give us the knowledge that we need and reach for success, so to speak. Patricia Baker, consulting with the OED programs, OED being the organizational effectiveness and development here for the city of Greensboro. Reach has a program coming up. It's come out for a day pack with valuable workshops and networking opportunities. insightful sessions, design to boost your skills and your knowledge and to make you a better professional and reach new heights in this journey and taking the opportunity to learn and connect and grow. Patricia Baker is here to talk about reach, which will take place on August 26th. That's a Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Greensboro Complex Special Events Center located at 1921 Westgate City Boulevard. Patricia, thank you for being here. My pleasure. On Talk City, Greensboro. And it's not your first time. You hear talked about Toastmasters, got to get you back. Yes. And now it's Reach again. It is. Big day for the city. Yes, it is. I'm super excited. Rodney for the opportunity. This is our third year in hosting or putting on Professional Development Day Reach. And as I say, it gets better and better. We started off this event when I was given this assignment back in 2022 and had just a few months. to put it together. So a whole lot of time. Not a whole lot of time. A whole lot of praying, being creative, and then just going in my toolbox. I'm like, I believe, I'm a connector of people. So I looked into my LinkedIn, like, what can I do? What do? I needed to find something that. touched everyone. And that's what REACH is about. It's just not only a professional development day for executive leaders, but it's about for every single employee within the city of Greensboro. Now, you say you're a connector of people, and I know that helps in a job such as yours being a consultant for OED, again, organizational effectiveness and development, but we're going to say OED for short. Okay. But what else in your life? What else led you to be in this position where you're the right person for this position? Oh my gosh. I think it is the passion for doing what I did. In my previous employee, I did something very similar called Volvo for Vets. And even growing up in New York, I was that person that connected people, connected things. When I say connector of people, I'm a big advocate of volunteering, snug harbocultural center on Staten Island, March of Dimes, and just rallying people together for a common cause. So not only are you touching people, but they are also touching other people.

Okay. Now, I'm going to test your memory for a second. Yes. Let's go back three years ago. Okay. For the first reach. Oh, my gosh. And it's over and I'm sure you probably had a debriefing meeting or something like that. Yes. Yes. Now, what was successful? Name of two things that was successful about the reach, the first reach. Okay. Okay. And two things that you wanted to see improvement and have you met that improvement. Okay. I'll speak about both. One of the things that was very successful, I would say, with the executive leadership workshop was my connection with Mary Hemhill, Dr. Mary Hemphill. And she was so phenomenal. We brought her back again. And now the city is using her in a different capacity. So that connection. very, very successful. Another thing that was very successful, employees wanted this. They said they, the city needs to do this again. Now, mind you, when I got this assignment, it was supposed to be every other year. After that, the debrief, Mr. Jemaya Waterman, I'm calling you out. Patricia, we got to do this again next year. I'm like, oh my gosh. By that, I had lost my voice completely, but it was such a huge success that all employees from feedback says, we need to do this again. All right. Now also, to answer that other question, two things that we did, I would say, make better, if you will. And one of those things were when we had the facilitators come out, there was a lot of, I would say, quote unquote, noise on the floor of people moving about. So we spaced the workshops out. Okay. Initially we had them right next to each other. Like physical space. Physical space, yes. So you put some space in between. Absolutely. How did that help? So that helped with the noise level going down. So we had the colleges and universities there. You know, as employees are coming to these events, we had internal departments there. So that helped with the noise level. We had a bigger space. The noise wasn't as great as it was previously. So that helped. Also, a mapping of the events in the workshops. When employees came, they're like, I don't remember what workshop I registered for. Oh, a map of an event. So they might be media stuff. Absolutely. So the second year. We had, thanks to graphic services, create a map of the facility that outlined where every single workshop was. Has it always been at the special event center? Yes. And the reason why is that it provides ample space for those that have large trucks to come in and people can move about. So maybe in the future we'll probably see if we can probably get some sort of transportation for other people. But yes, it has help. And I would say a huge shout out to fire. They have been phenomenal, Corey Randall and his group. Our purpose also is to get every single department representative within reach. And we're just about there. And you got some great instructors. I don't want to start. Oh, absolutely. I won't start naming them because I'll mess up. You can name them if you like. Okay, well, instructors, I will say facilitate workshops. Okay. Internally, we have Eric Chilton. Mm-hmm.

tried to get Eric to make a, he couldn't get together on, because he's so busy. I know. But he was going to comment about his class. I'm actually taking his class on. Strategic media practices. At nine, is at nine? No, three o'clock. Yeah, we have. We have, and that's another great thing, Rodney. We have both morning and afternoon workshops to accommodate everyone's schedule because not everyone could attend. And for those employees that have multiple two or three maybe people in their department, they work out of that schedule so everyone has an opportunity. I didn't write this down. So I'm giving her questions that I gave her a sheet of paper with all the questions on it. We're just going off script. Yeah. But, you know, we mentioned Eric. But it's not just, and there's a class about navigating for retirement. Oh, absolutely. So let me tell you how this came about. I had reached out to our 401k person and a retirement person. And Tammy had seen me at a wellness fair. Well, I heard, and Daisy was the other person, I heard she's coming to your workshop. You didn't invite me. I said, you want to come? Yes, I need to come. I need to talk about 401k in the stock market. So that's how I ended up partnering with our community partners, which is so phenomenal, United Way as well, instrumental. And then last year, you know, we have our internal department's human rights. We had GM 911 last year. Libraries. Great shout out. Thank you, Bridget. She mentioned, let's get libraries here. This was last year. And they were able to register over 30 plus employees library cards. And not only that, Coursera content, which is a free content that you can take certifications or get certificates in. And the library decays for that. So it's all about connecting that. So this year coming back, we have behavioral health response team, Bihart. A lot of people don't know. Those are my folks over there. Absolutely. How they partner with. with GM 911 or the police department to come out on these calls. So great resource. So I look at, when I'm looking at departments, transit. You know, how can we get those smaller departments that people don't normally interact with? Get them to show up. Tell us about what you do. Okay. Because this is all about connecting. We need to connect next year so we can tell folks. Absolutely. And we're going to do that. Absolutely. And we have the colleges and universities. I oversee tuition assistance program. Elon Musk University is going to be there. UNCG. North Carolina A&T. Aggie Pryde. Guilford College and also Guilford Technical Community College. So a lot of those colleges and universities, these are our community partners. So that is one of the things about reach, making sure that we connect with our community departments and partners and deliver content to our employees that is engaging, valuable, and that they have something to walk away with, something very tangible. Like we have, I would say, our talent acquisition team.

they're doing a resume remix. I saw that. I wanted to take that, but I didn't have time. And that is one of the things I've gotten feedback on. And also. I want to take a lot of these classes, but they all at the same time. That's what great workshops are. Yeah. Pick and choose. Well, you made me pick and choose. And so like I said, I registered for strategic media that Eric Chilton's going to teach. Yes. I'm not sure who's teaching and navigating. I'm not sure the right title, but it's navigating towards retirement or for retirement. Yes, Tammy and okay. So I'm taking that one. And then as I was signing up, one of my coworkers was like, is it too late? And so I looked up to date and I said, no, August 14th. Yeah, but go ahead and get in there now. So that was my question. It's not too late to register. The deadline is. This Friday, August 14th is the deadline. However, can classes fill up before that? Classes can fill up before that. However, if there is a class and you go to register and fill, send us an email, myself, Patricia.baker at Greensboro-N-C.gov or my colleague, amy, amy, dot Anderson. at Greensboro-Nc.gov. She oversees the LMS system. So we can get you registered in there. And I also want to note that we have. Through, again, connections, Amy, who came from North Carolina, A&T, we have a great, great, great grant writing workshop. And that, yeah, Dr. Williams has, is phenomenal and has just written and received a $4 million grant to get into that workshop. Yeah, Sterling's taking that class. Yes, yes, yes, he's excited about that. Absolutely. We have public speaking. We have over tuning to workshops. So there was something for everyone. We even have a quiet room to, you know, let your hair down and just recalibrate from those days' activities. We have lunch. And guess what? We have a special visitor that is coming through. Who's that? The city mayor. Mary Kay. Who's the waiter? Okay. Yeah. And Trey Davis will deliver his speech to all of us. Absolutely. And one of the things. So it's a big deal. Absolutely. Another great thing is that now we have a budget for reach. The first two years, we did not have a budget. This year, we have a budget. It's evolving. You're evolving. You're growing it. We are evolving. We are growing, getting feedback, professional headshots, employees are loving it. And another great thing, Sterling. I mean, I'm sorry, Rodney, is that we, our community partners, we have invited our constituents or our partners from the city of Winston, Salem, City of Burlington, Durham, Charlotte, and High Point. So we're reaching out those HR professionals to show them that we, what we do.

Truly a regional effort. Absolutely. And they're asking, how can we do something like this? In an elevated pitch or, you know, how can, to someone that's out there listening that, you know, says I may sign up, but may not, tell them why it's important for employees to invest in their professional development and take advantage of opportunities like this. Absolutely. I would say one of the greatest things, well, the best thing you can do is invest in yourself. Don't wait for opportunities to come to you. Take advantage of that opportunity. Most workshops, if you attended a workshop, is over $1,000 plus. This is a one-day event that has something for everyone. Over time, you will get, you will see the tangible results of what you invest in. So don't wait for other people to invest in you. Start the investment with yourself. Be proactive. Absolutely. Okay. Absolutely. Well, we've talked about this. And you mentioned the learning management system, the LMS and other things. But the department, OED, what else does it offer? Oh my gosh. We offer so many things. We have leadership programs. Entro to leadership, operational leadership, systemic leadership. All three of those are combined. So as you take one, you go to the next step, we have foundations of policy. We have general education classes. All right. We have tuition assistance. Y'all should see her lighten up. We have Toastmasters. There's a plethora of things that we offer. Also, the majority of us are disc certified as well. One of us, and I'm working on coaching certification as well. Okay. I'm an HR generalist, if you will. I do have my SPHR certification. So a lot of us have certification in different areas. And we bring our strengths together to make it work for the entire city. That's what we do. And so it's going to take place on August 26th. Wednesday will be the last Wednesday in August. August 26th. at the Greensboro Coliseum, 1921, Westgate City Boulevard. Yes. Taking place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Absolutely. How can we stay connected with what you're doing? Plenty of ways. We work with our communication specialist, Dawn Hill. It's on Citinet. She posts. We will update things. Now for OED, OED does have a web page on Citinet. So you can look at our classes, anything that's coming up. And we do work on our calendars yearly. So again, stay connected with OED. Reach out to any of us there. Our information is on Citinet. That's how we can stay connected. Well, thank you. Thank you. You know, I got to confess when we were signing up for classes the other day. And I said, you can't forget about the classes if you run into Patricia.

I said, I saw Patricia outside walking in. She said, reach, reach. Yeah, my mom's doing well. I'm fine. You're like, reach, reach. And it's so ironic you say that because as I go through the parking, I said, do you guys register to reach? I said, I feel like I'm going to walk in bill for it because I am so passionate. And I believe it is, you know, if you can touch any single, every single city employee to let them know, you've done your job. Absolutely. You have and you're doing it well. Thank you. Well, it's that time of year, time of year again. And we thank you for coming by Talk City to make us aware about this edition. This is going to be the third annual. Third annual. Third annual. Yes. I'm super excited, Ronnie. And it's going to get better and better. All right, Patricia Baker, consultant with OED programs, OED being organizational effectiveness and development, and thank you for being a part of Talk City. Please register for reach. You have until August 14th to register. You can go on the website greensboro-NC.gov. Yes. And to take place again on 26th of August, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the special event center, which is a part of the Coliseum Complex. Absolutely. 1921 Westgate City Boulevard. Hall B. Hall B is in Boy. Hall B. I will see you there. Thank you so much. And others please join us. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for coming back. And you too for tuning in and watching Talk City once again. You can tune in weekly by subscribing to Talk City, Greensboro on iTunes, Pandora. And don't forget, you can download Talk City for MyCloud. That's it for this week. Thank you for tuning in to Talk City. Be sure to watch GtN, your official source for news and information about the city of Greensboro. Gt is available on Spectrum Channel 13, AT&T, Uverse Channel 99, and Lumo 31. GTN also streams live on Roku and the city. website at greensboro dash nc.gov thank you thank you